And Jon Stewart Too!

I got Barack AND Stewart backin me up.

Now THERE’s a democratic ticket.

Check it out: http://www.thedailyshow.com/video/index.jhtml?videoId=149037&title=democratic-response&to=3

That Sebelius. Geez.

Me, I’m putting it on the line

I think the republican ticket is going to be McCain-Huckabee.

 I think that that ticket would stitch together the broadest band of republican voters, the military guys and the god-goddies.  I think it will generally leave out the Mexican-haters, which is probably a good move for the ‘pubs. 

Any ticket with Obama on it would paste the anti immigration folks, hands down. 

I have NO idea what the democratic ticket could look like with Obama on top.  Maybe edwards?  That might be a nice way to do it – but would edwards be down? 

Who would hillary pick?  Richardson, maybe Dodd (he WAS sitting next to her at the SOTU)

Anybody else watching Giuliani concession speech?

First of all – I think that the crowd has gotten it that he’s quitting. They’re pretty deflated sounding. But my real question is – who the hell is that guy in the blue sunglasses? Why did the campaign let him stand right behind Giuliani. (so far, this is the only pic I could find. That guy was di-RECT-ly behind giuliani when he was giving his speech.) Also – its FEWER lawsuits, not LESS lawsuits. See why you can win? You can’t even tell the difference between a mass noun and a count noun. America’s major my ass. Also – did you know that the republicans, while a “big party getting bigger”, it’s also the party of freedom. How’d you like that, you democratic freedom haters?That guy in the sunglasses REALLY wants to be able to send his kid to the school of his choice. Man. That’s really his issue.

What is wrong with this picture, dear reader?

I think Barack agrees with me about Sebelius…

Here’s the text of his email to me:

Alex –Tonight, Governor Kathleen Sebelius spoke eloquently to the nation on behalf of our party.But I wanted to share my personal response to George Bush’s final State of the Union with you.Watch my response here: http://my.barackobama.com/sotu Next year, when it will be the job of someone new to report on the state of our union, the entire nation can have a president they believe in.And with your help in the coming days and weeks, that’s the kind of president I will be.Thank you,Barack

Now, I just think he’s being nice when he said she spoke eloquently.  Because she really didn’t.  She was pretty boring (see previous post) I mean, if barack really thought she did a good job,  you think he’d have to one-up her by sending me an email with a YouTube clip of himself?  Oh barack, you shouldn’t have.   

So goddamn boring

Kathleen Sebelius - she’s giving the “democratic rebuttal” to the State of the Union right now.   Wow, she’s an even worse orator than president bush.  Her freaking tone is sooooo monotonous. Shes got all these false endings.  we’re like YES SHE’S done!  now she’s talking about greenberg. Comments from my friends while we’re watching this: Yo, you hungry?  I think I want to make a pizza.Hey look at that – one of our lightbulbs is out.Anybody who’s still watching this is just waiting for clinton and obama.   Oh, look at that – Nell changed the lightbulb.  Kathleen is still droning on.Richard wants a PB and J.  Bets on how many he’ll eat tonight? BLAH BLAH BLAH. Kathleen, this is your freeeeecking moment to introduce yourself to the goddam nation, and this is what you do?  An American Response?  Shut up about your public service-y family!  AHHHH this is bad politics and bad tv.  ”the greatest generation?”Let’s chart a new course for our greatest generations to come.  That’s a cliche-packer.  Her face has no expression.  LIP-PURSER!!!!  she’s WAYYY too composed.  Boooooorrrrring.

Clinton faces an uphill battle in South Carolina

Why I’m for Obama

This woman has expressed better than any pundit could, why I’m for Obama:

Note, please that this is the NYtimes accompanying headline:

Obama Tries to Stop the ‘Silliness’

the most dumped-ass head of state in the world

The problem isn’t that Sarkozy has hooked up with Carla Bruni:

It’s that his ass is going to get dumped.  Sarko is fundamentally a big dork.  He’s a HUGE dork.  He’s all about his policy and the like, and I think that Carla is going to want to go back to the cool table sooner or later.  and then, people won’t be wondering, “is this woman an appropriate first lady?” they’ll be saying, man, the president of france is the most dumped-ass head of state in the world.

Ric Burns (Ken Burns’s brother) and his impeccable timing.

I just finished watching Ric Burns’s (Ken Burns’s brother) documentary on New York.  Its really excellent, its life affirming, its city affirming.  Its point of view is very pro new york, its unapologetically pro new york.  It makes me feel like I’M from new york.  And I’m not – I’m scared of the place, I feel assaulted, I feel like a nobody, I feel ugly.  But when new york is contained on a DVD and I can watch like 400 years of history in a couple days, I feel like I’m outside of it.

The documentary told in a very Ken Burnsy kind of way. Like, he does camera pans.  First its over portraits and maps (for the 17th and 18th centuries) then its over moldy photos, then its over early motion pictures.  Over this stuff, the audio track is always the  commentators.  (who are great in this film.  I especially liked Mike Wallace and Robert Caro.)  It’s like the visual stuff is the primary source and the audio stuff is the secondary source.  Here’s the stuff and this is what it means.

That’s fine and all, I just would also have liked more primary sources in the primary sources’ own voices.  Political speeches and the like.  I dunno.  I just noticed that that’s how it was done, and it was glaring.

Also, there’s no disagreement among the commentators – it’s as if since its history we’re talking about, we’re talking about facts.  The story is “true” and unbroken.  Things which must have been totally and completely controversial in their day are stated plainly.  Al Smith’s demise.  The Empire State building going up practically weeks after the stock market crash.  Sometimes its new york according to walt whitman and f scott fitzgerald.  The triangle factory fire, with its eerie recollections of september 11.

September 11, while we’re on the subject, isn’t in the film, because it came out in like ‘99.  It’s crazy.  After excoriating urban renewal and its mastermind, Robert Moses, Ric Burns (ken burns’s brother) zooms through the 70’s 80’s and 90’s.  The loss of jobs The horrible debt that nearly wiped out the city.  The white flight and suburbanization (which urban ‘renewal’ had a HUGE part in creating) that emptied out the city.  All these terrible things which cause people in the 70’s, really, to claim that the new york experiment was dead, that the great “melting pot” was a failure, the image of the roving urban black gangsta was synonymous with city, etc – all these problems sort of melt away in the late 90’s.  People and small business (and not so small business) come back to new york BECAUSE its this cacophony of people and cultures.  there’s money to be made and life to be lived.

This is how the film ends.  Its uplifting, its inspiring.  The great american city, reborn from the hell of the 70’s.  The melting pot once more.  Looking hopefully toward the new millenium.

The internet plays no role in this documentary.  Terrorism plays no part.  Evangelical religous bigotry plays no role.  Its just amazing, because the New York that we see at the end of the film really IS the new york we know now – its the present day, modern New York, with this incredibly huge (pair of) elephant(s) in the room. Jesus!  The twin towers are everywhere in this thing.  It’s like someone played a really cruel joke on Ric Burns (Ken Burns’s brother).  Here he creates this tribute to a city he obviously loves, complete with adoring, swooping helicopter shots of our favorite buildings – and then wham!  The very next year, the most significant event in the history of new york.

It’s kind of perfect, in a way – there’s some kind of clintonian, urbanist, pro-democracry, uplift that makes me really nostalgic.

I’m pretty sure that Ric Burns (Ken Burn’s brother) made a little post 9/11 follow up sort of extension.  Maybe I’ll get around to seeing that, but I kind of don’t want to.